EFFECTIVE July 4, Mango
fare offerings are available
for sale for the first time in
Amadeus.
Andy Hedley, gm Southern
Africa at Amadeus, said
in addition to a range
of public fares, Mango
corporate fares would also
be available for sale through
Amadeus.
Benediction Zubane,
hod marketing and
communications for Mango,
said Mango’s parent
company, SAA, already made
use of Amadeus and that
this decision would lead to
more system compatibility
between the two airlines.
“We need to implement
what the industry is
dictating that it needs from
us.”
Andy said while low-cost
carriers had initially begun
operations with the intention
of working through direct
and web booking channels
only, a recent spurt of
increased GDS offerings
from local low-cost carriers
made it clear that travel
agents were still key sellers
of seats in the marketplace.
FlySafair announced last
month that it was expanding
its GDS offering to reflect
its full range of available
fares. Previously only highyield
fares have been made
available on the GDS.
This is a very different
approach to the unfriendly
agent strategies that are
currently being implemented
by a number of international
full-service carriers who
appear to be moving further
and further away from travel
agent distribution.
“It is clear that
Mango, kulula.com and
FlySafair have all started
implementing hybrid
technological strategies,
which is quite a profound
move away from the
traditional low-cost carrier
model. This indicates the
reach that agents clearly
command and the value that
adds in the South African
market,” said Andy.
